Casa De Mita
Escape can be an illusive goal of vacation. All too often, in the hectic process of “getting away”, we fail to actually unwind. At Casa de Mita, a beachfront villa hotel situated on a quiet strip of the coast just north of Puerto Vallarta, you quickly get pulled into an alternate universe of lazy days spent at the pool hydrated by the swim-up full service bar, dinners complimented by long molten sunsets and crisp breakfasts overlooking the beach as local fishing boats bob against the horizon already returning with the days fresh catch.
When hospitality is a labor of love, it always apparent. Casa de Mita exudes that extra special charm and pride of ownership in the carefully tended details, kind staff and attentive management.
The villa is truly beachfront, with mere steps leading to the sand and surf. You don’t have to choose between finding and enjoying a local experience, escaping into nature or relaxing days in doing absolutely nothing, it’s all here.
Casa de Mita’s classically cut pool transitions from liquid lounge to full length swim to an ankle deep wading pool and a swim up bar means you don’t have to exit the crisp cobalt water to order a light bite or a cocktail. It’s easy enough to loose an afternoon or several to a summer read and good conversation here.
The villa’s design retains a fun melding of homestyle elegance with Mexican motifs and subtly Mediterranean influence. Color and texture play hand in hand sculpting the villa’s shaded throughways and light and bright spaces into a flow of artful and inviting vignettes.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served al fresco and pool adjacent, with the villa’s breathtaking open air dining perched just steps above the Azur coastline.
The cuisine at Casa de Mita is nothing short of incredible and if you’re in the northern Puerta Vallerta area, dinner here alone is worthy of the drive. This is the ultimate in high-end Mexican cuisine experience, all the more delightful because it doesn’t try too hard. Refreshingly, authenticity is not lost in pretentiousness and each dish hits the palate in a most satisfying delivery of local flavor.
The menu becomes personal as dishes are prepared with careful prep the day of and the day before. One of my favorite meals from our stay (and to be honest, of all time) was a ceviche gazpacho, a custom dish the chef concocted after asking about my tastes. It was an exquisitely balanced combination, imagined and executed flawlessly, a brilliant compliment to the Mexican heat.
Other memorable plates include a fresh take on surf and turf, mouthwatering empanadas, and a rich buttery lobster served accented cleverly with balled potatoes ever so lightly air fried.
As it should be, deserts were not to be left behind. Lusciously rich, light and lovely, in each desert we sampled during our stay the chef delivers an impressively understated and deliciously delightful finale to both the meal and the day.
Casa de Mita is a place where each mouthful can be anticipated to the same degree as a cool dip in the pool under the mexican sun or sinking under the crisp covers exhausted from a days adventure. This is a place where sensory delights blend seamlessly into that perfect holiday you think back to years later.
As evening deepens we walk along the beach, combing the sand for shells and tempting the waves at our ankles until the stars came out and sleep beckons.
This is a place we will return again and again, a place where you not only make memories but find those precious personal moments of exquisite happiness. We felt taken care of and completely at home here, it is truly the most endearing of escapes.
